


Closeted Gays Intervention Program

by 5sosandfood



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, Teacher-Student Relationship, a lil bit of a twist on teacher/student, i really love writing niall's character i hope you appreciate him
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-07
Updated: 2014-03-23
Packaged: 2018-01-11 11:18:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1172417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/5sosandfood/pseuds/5sosandfood
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For some odd reason, everyone's gaydar was rather off and they all thought Louis and Eleanor were "the cutest couple on campus."</p><p> </p><p>That's when Louis decided that he didn't want to keep his sexuality a secret anymore. That when the next term began, he'd come out. He just needed some security though first. Assurance that he wasn't disgusting.</p><p> </p><p>And that's when he found the Closeted Gays Intervention Program, which brings him here now.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Louis looks in the mirror one last time before pulling his short arms through his coat, stepping out into the December, London air.

 

He can't believe he's doing it. He really can't. What if Niall caught him? The thought chills him, so he wraps himself up tighter in his coat.

 

He just wishes he got it over with two years ago. He could've adopted a whole new persona at university, hung out with people like him, and not worried about anything at all.

 

Oh, but no! That little, blonde, Irish shit had to hop in the seat next to Louis and chirp, "My name's Niall, what's yours?"

 

And Niall _had_ to introduce Louis to his friends! Zayn, who didn't oblique the fact that "being gay wasn't right," and Liam, who said "You know, you'd be perfect for my friend Eleanor?" So yeah, that's how Louis' straight, "good boyfriend" image came to be.

 

Right, until he couldn't handle it anymore.

 

Until the thought of Eleanor's fucking thigh gap haunted his nightmares. Until her stupid manicured hands brought him to gag. Until he couldn't stand to watch her put on mascara every morning. Until he just couldn't get the thought of sucking a dick off of his mind.

 

Yeah, obviously Louis dumped the girl a couple weeks ago.

 

No one expected it, to say the least.

 

For some odd reason, everyone's gaydar was rather off and they all thought Louis and Eleanor were "the cutest couple on campus."

 

That's when Louis decided that he didn't want to keep his sexuality a secret anymore. That when the next term began, he'd come out. He just needed some security though first. Assurance that he wasn't disgusting.

 

And that's when he found the Closeted Gays Intervention Program, which brings him here now.

 

That's why he's walking down the London sidewalk in the freezing weather— to reach the Closeted Gays Intervention Program.

 

After walking about five more minutes, he reached his destination and took a deep breath before opening the door of the South London Activity Building.

 

Room 4E. He remembered that to heart to save the embarrassment of asking an employee.

 

He was confused seeing a curtain covering the window on the door, but he was sure this was it. He was positive.

 

And he was right, when a tall, handsome man with curly hair greeted Louis from the front of the room, saying "Have a seat anywhere you'd like."

 

Louis took a seat at the very back of the room and he liked that it was warm and he could take of his coat. He liked that all the other people gave off the same energy as he did— scared.

 

"I believe that's everyone," the curly-haired man said after a frail girl scurried into the room, sitting three seats away from Louis. The man smiled, looking out over his spectators. "My name is Dr. Harry Styles, but I'd much prefer you'd all call me Harry. I want this to be as personal as possible. I do not want to be your teacher— I want to be your friend." He paced the floor back and forth at the front of the room with his hands folded together. "I presume that I'm around the same age as most of you. I'm 24, soon to be 25, and I received my Ph.D. in Psychology back in June. In case you're wondering, which I'm sure you are, I am an avowed homosexual myself, and I was just like all of you in college, so I'm not here to judge you— not a single one of you. If I judge you in the slightest, tell me and I'll correct myself immediately. Also, _we_ are not here to judge each other. All of us here have similarities, but some of us have different similarities. We're all here to be accepted, and that's just what we need— acceptance. We must accept each other before we can ever allow anyone else to accept us." Louis was already feeling inspired and he had barely been in this class for five minutes. Harry found Louis and flashed him a smile, probably seeing the look of amusement in his eyes. "Now, considering we're all going to be friends, I'd like to learn all of your names. If you all wouldn't mind, I'm going to choose one of you and I'd like for you to tell me your name and something you like about yourself— physically, mentally, or emotionally." Harry scoped the room and Louis maybe, just maybe, sunk down really far in his seat and maybe, just maybe, that sparked Harry's interest even more, so he called on Louis first.

 

Louis slowly stands from his seat, and he really doesn't like that there's about fifteen people staring him down, who know he's gay. He takes a deep breath and says, "My name's Louis- uh, Louis Tomlinson- and I like my…my eyes?" Harry gives a proud smile and thanks Louis then moves on to the rest of the group. Louis gets really ticked off when they all say they don't like anything about themselves and that's when he realizes that he and Harry must be the only emotionally stable people in that room.

 

Harry is encouraging to the other people though, and Louis really appreciates that. He's glad Harry is patient with them and he's glad that Harry is easy to look at.

 

After the session for that day, Louis must admit he has a crush on Harry. He really can't help it.

 

"Hi, um, Harry?" Louis can't help but approach Harry when he should be going back to his flat.

 

"Hi! Louis, right? Louis Tomlinson?" Harry smiles brightly.

 

"Uh, yes." Louis doesn't blush. He just doesn't.

 

"Oh, you do have nice eyes," Harry compliments. Louis still isn't blushing.

 

"Um, thank you," Louis mumbles. "Thank you very much."

 

"Is there anything you need?" Harry asks, probably curious as to why Louis approached him after the session. Louis isn't really sure either.

 

"Um, I'd just like to say thank you. You're already making me feel more sure of myself and I'm sure I'll be able to come out when I wanted to."

 

"Oh, you have a date set?" Harry asks, stacking papers, but not breaking his gaze on Louis.

 

"I want to come out at the beginning of my next term," Louis explained. Harry sent a winning smile Louis' way.

 

"I'm very glad to help with that, Louis."

 

"Thank you very much, Harry. I'll see you next Tuesday." Louis turns and is out the door before Harry has the chance to say anything.

 

He really didn't expect the session to last that long. Niall should be back soon and he'll ask questions until the sun sets, dammit!

 

Louis breaks into a power-walk once he's out of the building.

 

He makes it back to the flat in record time, but not before Niall.

 

"Damn, Lou. Did you go out without a jacket?" That's Niall's first question and Louis mentally beats himself in the head with a frying pan.

 

In his haste, he had forgotten his coat! And, being the idiot he is, he didn't even notice the weather outside since he was in such a hurry! Great, just great. This is totally awesome.

 

"Uh, just made a quick run to the service station next door. Didn't need a coat, really." Louis thanks God for making him such a good liar, he really does.

 

"Oh." Niall furrows his eyebrows and Louis wonders why. The lie was good, he's sure of it. "Well did ya not get anything?"

 

"Right, I just got some gum." Louis reaches back and swiftly pulls the pack of gum he'd had for a week from his back pocket.

 

"Sweet. Can I have a piece, mate?" Niall opens his hands to catch the pack of gum before Louis can even tell him yes or no. Louis tosses it across the room and it lands perfectly in Niall's hands. He really hates how Niall's face drops when he opens the flap. "Um, Lou? There's only two pieces left."

 

"Yeah, saw an old college mate at the gas station. Gave him a few pieces, just being nice." Louis shrugs, walking into the kitchen and opening a cabinet in search for food.

 

"Mate, I already ordered out for pizza!" Niall calls out. This time, Louis thanks God for giving Niall such a short attention span. "But listen to this! At work today, some girl with, like,  _the_ _best_ rack I've ever seen showed up and I got her number, man! She's probably got a hot friend too! I can really hook you up!"

 

"Nah, man. I really need to get into studying. Thanks though, Ni." Louis ruffles Niall's hair as he passes by, continuing down the hall and into his room.

 

He doesn't study books.

 

He studies Harry Styles.


	2. Chapter 2

When Louis shows up to the session next Tuesday, he feels a little guilty considering he knows more than the average bear should about his teacher- er…friend.

He knows that Harry's birthday is February first. He knows that Harry's middle name is Edward. He knows that he was born in Holmes Chapel of Cheshire. He knows that Harry's mother is called Anne and his step-father is called Robin. He knows that Harry's close with his sister, Gemma, who is 28.

Louis knows that he's a fucking stalker that doesn't need to have access to Facebook.

"Louis?" Harry catches Louis' attention as he's trying to walk by unnoticed, which is a miserable failure.

"Yes, Harry?" Louis turns around to see Harry's long arm extended to him with a brown clump of fabric clutched in his hand.

"You left your coat. Can't believe you went out without it, really." They share a laugh as Louis steps forward, taking it from Harry.

"Thanks. I don't get cold easily, so I was fine," Louis lies, avoiding any further explanation as Harry nods. He gives a closed mouth smile, but his dimples still show and Louis really can't take that, so he gives Harry a quick smile, then turns around and heads to the seat he had been at last week. 

Louis notices that there's one or two less people, but he's fine with that. He doesn't like there to be too many people anyway.

"Okay, so since we have everything between each other established, I have a little survey for you to fill out. You do not have to put your name on it if you don't feel comfortable. However, I want you to answer honestly considering your answers will not be seen by anyone but me, and remember, I'm only here to help you." Harry sends a smile at the whole group before passing out the survey to everyone in the room. Louis exhales deeply, starting with the first question: What is your sexual orientation?

Louis writes "Gay" in his best handwriting.

He sighs carefully before moving on to the next question. How long have you been aware of your sexuality?

"Two years," he writes in the blank.

None of the questions require much thought, so he breezes through the survey, and he's about to take it up to Harry when he realizes that Harry won't be able to help him if he doesn't know it's Louis' paper.

He quickly scrawls his name down on the empty space at the top then carries it up to Harry. Louis was the first one done so everyone else in the room gives him this God awful stare as if he had just killed someone.

"Louis, you don't have to write your name, remember?"

"I remember," Louis tells him. Harry gives Louis a nice smile.

"Thank you, Louis," Harry whispers. Louis nods discreetly and returns to his seat, absentmindedly drumming his pencil against the desk until a brute looking boy sends him a death glare and Louis realizes he should probably stop.

All they do in the session that day is wait on the emotionally unstable ones to finish the survey. Louis isn't quite sure why, considering all the questions were personal and everyone knows about themselves for God's sake!

Everyone else leaves before Harry can even get the mandatory "have a nice day" words out of his mouth, but Louis stays back for a couple minutes, and he's texting Niall to save any questioning when he gets back home.

"Well I'll be damned," Louis hears Harry whisper and his head shoots up to see Harry sauntering over to the window, his eyes sparkling. "It's snowing." Louis springs out of his seat and quickly makes his way to Harry's side as they look at the white flakes dropping from the sky, beginning to stick on the ground.

"Do you drive?" Harry asks and Louis feels Harry's eyes waiting to meet his. Louis slowly looks up, locking his blue eyes with Harry’s, which are green, he discovered from his studying.

"I don't," Louis replies. "I don't live too far away. It's a pretty short walk."

"Well as you can see, it's snowing, Louis," Harry chuckles. "I believe I should drive you, unless you'd rather get a taxi."

"I don't have the money for a taxi," Louis mumbles. "But I can walk. Like I said before, I don't get cold easily."

"Right, but it's snowing," Harry argues. "I believe it's a little colder than you're used to. I can drive you, it's not a problem, really." Louis bites his lip as he contemplates.

"If it's really not a problem, then I'd really appreciate you giving me a ride," Louis tells Harry. Harry smiles brightly down at Louis then tells him it'd be just a few minutes while he collects his things.

After Harry is situated, he leads Louis outside and around the side of the building where he's parked. Louis can't exactly say whether he's surprised or not that Harry's in possession of an Audi coupe. He seems like a sophisticated man. But then again, he wonders where Harry got the money for such a nice vehicle, because lecturing a room full of gays about their sexuality isn't really the highest paying job. He decides to save the question until they get over the teacher/student vibe.

"Is there anything you'd like to hear on the radio? Is your seat cold? I have warmers. Anything you need from town? We can stop, it's no problem," Harry babbles on and on and Louis wonders when and why this seemingly confident man became so nervous.

"Slow down there, mate. I'm fine," Louis laughs, making Harry blush with embarrassment. Harry blushes? Louis doesn't think there's much of anything that's cuter than that. Except turtles. Louis' always liked turtles, and he planned to get one, but oh, no— courteous flat mate Niall Horan claimed that turtles "stunk up the house" so Louis had been stopped from doing yet another thing thanks to the Irish fucker.

"Okay," Harry mumbles, then asks which way to go once he left the parking lot. Louis really wants to make stupid small talk with Harry, but he votes against it considering Louis would be directing Harry, and Harry would be listening.

Finally, they're outside Louis' building and the awkward "see you next Tuesday" is due.

Louis finds the flat motionless and quiet. He sighs when he sees the note from Niall on the counter saying he's at Liam's and will be until late. Louis crumples it up and makes an NBA shot into the garbage bin.

Louis turns on the TV and flips the channel from Niall's footy match to Hallmark channel, where they were starting to show Christmas movies.

Louis loved Christmas, he always had. Mind you, it wasn't because his birthday fell on Christmas Eve; he just loved the weather and the spirit. Last Christmas, he had decorated the flat from ceiling to floor and wall to wall while Niall was at work, leaving the blonde boy pissed when he arrived home; Louis didn't care because he knew Niall secretly loved it.

As much as Louis loved chilling on the couch, sipping tea while he watched Elf, he couldn't help but feel the slightest bit lonely. He contemplated calling Zayn and asking him to come over, but Zayn was probably hanging with Niall and Liam and Louis is pretty sure it's against the Flat Mate Handbook to steal someone away from said flat mate.

It was moments like this where Louis wanted a boyfriend: someone to cuddle with as they watched Christmas movies. (Preferably Harry, but.)

Louis watched Elf until the happy ending, then padded down the hall and into his room, collecting his laptop (keeping his blanket wrapped tightly around his shoulders all the while) then returned to his nest on the couch.

Louis decided to venture further from Facebook tonight; oh, yes, he was hitting up Google— a stalker's paradise.

"Harry Styles - London, England," Louis typed into the search bar, triumphantly pressing enter. He couldn't help but feel a little guilty as he waited for the results to load. Finally, the moment of truth came and links to different websites appeared on his screen.

Facebook, which was written in purple, was the first result; the next being the website for the South London Activity Building. Louis decided to go with the third result— Cambridge University.

He wasn't shocked in the slightest that Harry was the Valedictorian at Cambridge. He had to have been a sharp guy to have his doctorate.

Louis feels so inferior considering he's about to flunk out of Greenwich, which is nearly impossible. 

Yeah, and Louis totally doesn't save the (adorable) picture of Harry on stage receiving his degree.


	3. Chapter 3

Louis knows he's got it bad when he's been constantly bouncing his knee anxiously, waiting for Tuesday to roll around (which is obviously an exaggeration but).

 

For some reason, Niall's got the day off on Tuesday. Louis makes a mental note to do a good deed as a thanks to God, because Niall's sleeping when it's time for him to go to his session.

 

It's a light snow outside and Louis is the only one walking (everyone else are wimps). He has a shadow of hope that the snow will pick up so Harry can drive him back to the flat.

 

When Louis reaches the session, he almost curses really loudly because they've already started. Everyone's heads snap toward the door where Louis is standing and he's suddenly not cold anymore.

 

Harry, being as polite as ever, turns to Louis with a smile.

 

"Glad you could join us, Louis," Harry says, and not sarcastically like all his teachers did when he was late to every class in sixth-form. No, Harry seems genuinely glad Louis could join them.

 

Louis gives a curt nod and goes to his usual seat at the back. The same boy who glared at him last week is glaring at him again.

 

"Anyway, back to what I was saying," Harry begins, obviously unfazed by Louis' arrival. "Raise your hand if you've ever called someone a fag." Louis is pretty sure he's the only one who doesn't raise his hand.

 

Louis never partook in bullying at school, especially not making fun of someone for their sexuality! He knew that calling someone "faggot" or "fag" would only make him a hypocrite, so he never bullied. Never even thought about it.

 

"Did you all know that studies show that when an individual bullies another by name-calling, then they're insecure with something about themselves?" Harry stays quiet for a second, letting the words soak into the minds of the bullies. "Louis, what kept you away from calling someone a fag?" Louis shrugs.

 

"I didn't want to be labelled a hypocrite."

 

"And that is a very good reason, Louis," Harry tells him, afterward moving on to ask all the others why they use the awful name. Louis doesn't pay attention to them, but rather to Harry, whose eyes have much more emotion than his voice.

•••

When the session is over, Louis has six new messages from Niall and two missed calls from the Irish kid. He's about to return them, but Harry says something and Harry is always much more interesting than Niall.

 

"Thought you weren't gonna show up today and I'd have an empty passenger seat," Harry says, approaching Louis' chair.

 

Louis' heart drops 200 stories then smacks into the ground.

 

"I wouldn't have missed the session for anything, Harry," Louis tells him, trying to keep cool. "You're a great teacher."

 

"Thank you, Louis. That means a lot." Louis could swear he sees Harry's cheeks turn red.

 

"Why does that mean a lot?" Louis asks, because he's really just another person to Harry. Nothing special.

 

"Because it's you." Harry shrugs like it’s nothing. Oh, it is most certainly something! Maybe Louis isn't just another- "You're one of my- God, I hate to call you this, but- students, and it's a good feeling to know that I'm doing my job right." Harry smiles, and Louis gives a forced one back. Right. That's why.

 

"Um, Harry? I'd really hate to sound rude, but are you driving me back or am I walking? Because my roommate's kinda pissy right now and-"

 

"Of course I'll drive you, Louis. Just give me a minute to get my things together." Louis gives Niall a call while Harry's gathering his things.

 

"Louis, man, where the fuck are you?" Niall exclaims. "I called you, like, ten times!" Louis stops himself from correcting Niall because he had actually only called twice.

 

"I've been with a friend, Niall," Louis tells him sternly. "I'll be back in a few, calm your tits, yeah?" Louis doesn't give Niall a chance to ask about the "friend," as he hangs up the phone, turning back to Harry.

 

"Was that your roommate?" Harry asks, laughing.

 

"Yeah," Louis laughs.

 

"I'll be quick, Louis," Harry tells him, and within thirty seconds, he's leading Louis out of the building and to his Audi, driving him back to his flat.

 

Before unlocking the door for Louis to get out, Harry hands him a small piece of paper, folded into a little square.

 

"There's my number. Neither the tube nor walking is the safest form of transportation." Harry winks and Louis almost dies because that's Harry Styles' phone number in his hand right now!

 

"Right, thanks Harry." Louis smiles in response before unlocking the door and leaving to enter his flat, which is unlocked, indicating Niall's there. (Niall's going to get raped one day with that bad habit of his.)

 

"Fucking hell, Louis," Niall sounds in disbelief as he climbs off the couch to approach Louis. "You didn't mention this friend of yours has a shitload of money."

 

"I haven't mentioned anything about this friend, Ni," Louis laughs as he pulls off his coat and tosses it over a barstool. (The flat was supplied with a coatrack, but they were UNI boys who could really care less where the coats were as long as they had them.)

 

"Is she hot?" Niall asks, hopping onto a stool and watching Louis as he goes into the kitchen for something to drink. Niall's leaning forward in anticipation, reminding Louis of an excited puppy that just dribbled on the carpet. Louis furrows his eyebrows as he sips the apple juice. "C'mon, Lou. I'm not gay or creepy, but you're hot, man. You've got panties dropping everywhere. Have you seen the girls at UNI? God, they're even staring at you at the fucking grocery store. Don't act all insecure now, Tommo."

 

"My friend's a guy, Niall," Louis ignores Niall's fluffy speech, and cuts straight to the point. "S'name's Harry. He's a really cool dude."

 

"You oughta bring him over then, yeah?" Niall suggests. "Maybe sometime soon we could have Zayn and Li over and we'd all chill out?"

 

"I dunno, Ni." Louis shrugs a tad. "He's 24. You lot might be a little bit too immature for him."

 

"Oh, shut it, you ass," Niall groans, reaching out and punching Louis' arm, receiving a laugh from the latter. "When ya gonna get back out there, mate? It's been a month since you dropped Eleanor. D'you know she's been hitting up clubs since then? A right slut if you ask me. Been posting pics of her snogging random blokes _all over_ Facebook. I suppose she really liked you, don't you think?"

 

"Sounds like it," Louis chuckles at how much Niall can talk and how he can dart from one topic to another with the blink of an eye.

 

"So Lou, where'd ya meet this Harry guy? S'he where you've been off to for the past two Tuesdays? I knew you didn't go to the service station a couple weeks ago, you bastard." Louis laughs and tries not to blush. The mention of Harry's name even made him blush. "Why only on Tuesdays?" Louis' thankful for Niall's short attention span because he really wasn't looking forward to coming up with the lie of where he had met Harry.

 

"He works and Tuesdays work for us to hang out since I don't have classes during the day and he doesn't work."

 

"Sounds an awful lot like he's a boyfriend you're trying to sneak around with," Niall chuckles lightly and Louis nearly chokes on his apple juice. Did Niall know all along? Louis almost doesn't notice Niall hop off his barstool and come around the counter to clap Louis' back. "But hey, I know you don't play for that team, mate. I'm looking forward to meeting this Harry dude. Figure he'll be cool." Louis sighs with relief once Niall's back in the living room, shouting at his footy match on TV.

 

"Lou, go ahead and tell Harry he can come over on Friday! I'll invite the other boys over and get some beers and some action movies or some shit! We'll have fun!" Niall calls out and Louis agrees.

 

Right. Calling and inviting Harry over. Shouldn't be that hard.

•••

Fuck, why is this so hard?

 

Just tap call.

 

"Tap it," Louis repeats out loud angrily. With his frustration, his finger lands just right on the screen, and Harry's number is dialing. "Fucking bullshit." Louis curses quickly before raising the phone to his ear.

 

"Hello?" Louis hears Harry's voice on the other line. Louis gathers himself together before responding.

 

"Harry, hi!" Louis exclaims.

 

"Louis? Wasn't expecting you to call." Louis can imagine the interested grin painted across Harry's pink lips.

 

"Yeah, uh… You see, my roommate kinda saw you drop me off and he's a nosy little shit so he asked about you and decided that you and he will be the best of friends and he wants you to come over and hang on Friday if you're not busy. A couple of other friends of mine'll be there too. You don't have to go, like it’s just something from the mind of Ni-"

 

"Yeah, I'll go Louis." Harry cuts him off and Louis couldn't be more thankful because he knew he was rambling. "At your flat, right?"

 

"Right." Louis nods to himself.

 

"Yeah, just text me details like what time and all that, but I'll definitely be there. Thanks for the invite, mate. I'll see you Friday." _Mate._ Obviously no romantic feeling there.

 

"See you then, Harry," Louis says and he's about to hang up when he hears Harry's voice once again.

 

"Oh, and Louis?"

 

"Yes?" Louis returns the cell to his ear.

 

"You can text me, don't be shy." With that, Harry ends the call, sending Louis' stomach into flutters.

 

Friday. Only three more days.


End file.
